The Guardian Chronicles 1: Rise of the Phoenix by Matthew Burkey Page A

head.”
    “Hey!” Tony called. “It wouldn’t be that bad!”
    “Oh great,” Cody moaned. “Now I have that image in my head!”
    “That’s creepy,” Tony responded, making a face. “Besides, there are worse images to have stuck in your head.”
    “Not from where I am sitting,” Cody grunted.
     
    Gabriel lay awake, trying to calm his breathing. He concentrated on the sounds of the lake around him; the gentle lapping of the water against the shore, the sounds of owls hooting in the nearby forest…
    Of course all of that was drowned out by the noise that was bursting forth from his tent mate’s throat. Apparently, Cody really did snore like a freight train. Or an F5 tornado. Hell, the sound of jet engine would have been blissfully quiet compared to the decibels that were currently assaulting his ears. Gabriel finally gave up and shimmed out of his sleeping bag. He grabbed his sweatshirt and headed out of the tent.
    He checked his watch, to find out that it wasn’t nearly as late that he thought that it was. Then again, none of them had really gotten much sleep lately so it wasn’t surprising to him that they had all turned in early. He grabbed a flashlight and started to walk along the shore of the lake.
    “Is it safe for you to be out alone?”
    Gabriel whirled around, striking out on instinct more than anything. His attack was deflected by a bare arm.
    “Whoa, easy there.”
    Gabriel looked at the person that had seemingly come out of nowhere.
    “Alex?”
    The vampire flashed him a wide grin. “You do remember me.”
    Gabriel did his best not to blush and stare at the young vampire in front of him. Alex’s hair was still cut short, though instead of wearing archery gear, this time he was wearing nothing more than board shorts, sandals, a sweatshirt, and a backwards baseball cap.
    “Um...sorry about that.”
    “My fault really,” Alex said, flashing Gabriel another grin. “I’ve been warned that sneaking up on Guardians can be dangerous, possibly even deadly to your health. Of course so is being a vampire these days.”
    Gabriel winced slightly at that comment. Although Valentine and his coven had stayed completely neutral in the conflict with the lycans it was no secret that the Guardians were killing their fair share of vampires. He could only imagine that every vampire out there was probably more than a little nervous about meeting a Guardian, at least at this moment.
    “Sorry,” Gabriel said, relaxing slightly.
    “Don’t be sorry,” Alex responded, with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “It’s not like were the ones that started the war or anything. You guys are just doing your job.”
    “I know that you and your coven haven’t taken sides. It has to be hard for you though, from what we can tell nearly everyone has been sucked into this conflict.”
    “That’s more or less an accurate statement,” Alex said, as they started to walk along the beach. “But to be honest my dad and his coven have always tried to maintain peaceful relations with everyone, including the lycans. We don’t see them as the animals most of our kind does.”
    “Isn’t it dangerous to be out and about like this? And what are you doing here?”
    “My dad thought that a change of scenery might do us all some good,” Alex responded. “I’m actually going to be enrolling in Highland in the fall.”
    Gabriel nodded and stopped himself from saying something stupid. At least with Alex there was an outside chance, however slim it might be, of developing a relationship. Ethan was a lost cause and he knew that, that still didn’t stop him from staring at him however. They walked a few more feet in silence before Alex spoke up.
    “Are you sure that it’s safe for me to be out here with you? How do I know that your archer friend or big brother aren’t going to come out of nowhere and take my head off?”
    “Cody is asleep, either that or he’s sucked the entire camp down his throat.”
    “That was him?” Alex